I was having a conversation with a mum from the rowing club about the virtues of homemade nut and seed bars and she mentioned she had a lovely recipe her teenage son adored. Me being me I got the ingredients together without really reading the full recipe and got started. I realised I didn’t have the vegan butter alternative it suggested so thought I’d improvise with oil and oat milk to create my own version of the bar. It wasn’t until I got to the end that I realised the original bars were raw and with my additions I really needed to bake them so I popped them in the over for 10 minutes and created a new ‘flapjack style’ version which is delicious.
Mr H, who is a much more scientific cook and clearly reads a full recipe before getting started, then had a look and commented that the vegan butter I thought I was missing was in fact a nut free alternative to peanut butter giving them a completely different taste and texture. I’ll be trying them this way too but for now you get my original version. And as we all agree - very tasty it is too!
Dry Ingredients
180g gluten free oats
60g oat flour (oats ground into flour works perfectly)
85g desiccated coconut
115g vegan dark chocolate
40g pumpkin seeds
40g sunflower seeds
25g chia seeds
60g linseeds
155g sultanas or cranberries
Wet ingredients
125ml organic rapeseed oil
125ml oat milk
105g coconut oil melted
150g liquid sweetener – honey, agave work best
1 tsp vanilla essence
Directions
Put the oven onto 180 degrees C and line a 30 x18 cm / 12x7" baking tray with greseproof paper.
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl or in the saucepan you melted the coconut oil in mix all the wet ingredients together.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients and press into a lined baking tray making side you firm it down well.
Bake in the centre of the oven for 10 – 12 minute until just golden brown. Keep an eye on it or it will catch and burn.
Leave to cool for 30 minutes or more in the tin before tipping out and cutting into squares. Place back in the tin and leave to cool completely. Once cool wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge overnight. This ensures you get a really moist and chewy bar which holds together really well.
Keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks (as if it will last that long!)